1 TV singers the Partridge Family travelled to concerts in a requisitioned school bus which they decorated in the manner of which Modernist Dutch painter?

Two turtle doves

1 'She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in, but he kept her unconscionably, and there were moments at which she showed herself, in the glass over the mantel, a face positively pale with the irritation that had brought her to the point of going away without sight of him...' is the opening to which novel, by whom, published in 1902?

2 The words of the anthem O for the Wings of a Dove come from Psalm 55. Which composer wrote the music?

Three French hens

1 Cecilia Sarkozy's first marriage was to Jacques Martin. The ceremony took place in Neuilly in 1984. Who conducted it?

2 How many Nobel prizes were won by the women of the Curie family?

3 Which actress played Coco Chanel on Broadway in 1970, much to the disapproval of Chanel herself, who thought her portrayer 'too old'?

Four calling birds

1 Sybil Fawlty spends most of her time behind the desk of the family hotel on the phone. To which of her girlfriends is she generally talking?

2 Beatrice Bellman was a character played by which actress in the advert for which company?

3 On 2 April 2007, Ms Sarah Mendes Da Costa took over from Mr Brian Cobby as what?

4 Which character, in 1964, was the first to answer the phone in reception with the words 'Crossroads Motel, can I help you?'

Five gold rings

1 Who was said to have purchased a Dis-Moi-Oui ring from the jeweller Repossi on the afternoon of 30 August 1997?

2 Who sang, in 1970, 'Now that you're gone, all that's left is a band of gold, all that's left of the dreams I hold, is a band of gold. And the memory of what love can be'

3 Which image - which contained five gold rings - was unveiled in June to thousands of complaints, including accusations of inducing epilepsy and migraines, as well as looking like Boris Johnson's hair?

4 Philby, Maclean, Burgess, Blunt... Who was the fifth member of the Cambridge spy ring?

5 'One ring to rule them all/One ring to find them/One ring to bring them all/And in the darkness find them.' Is the epigraph to which novel of 1954?

Six swans a swimming

1 Who wrote of whom: 'Sweet swan of Avon! What a sight it were/To see thee in our waters yet appear,/And make those flights upon the banks of Thames/That so did take Eliza and our James'

2 Identify the following:

a The swan of Lichfield

b The swan of Mantua

c The swan of Meander

3 The novel Swan, published in 1994, was written by Caroline Upcher. It was published, though, under the name of which celebrity (who defended herself saying, 'I just didn't have the time to sit down and write a book')?

4 From which song is: 'Ride it on out like a bird in the sky ways/Ride it on out like you were a bird/Fly it all out like an eagle in a sunbeam/Ride it on out like you were a bird'

5 When in difficulties in which sport would one reach for a swan?

6 When six swans are swimming, what is the correct collective noun for them?

Seven geese a laying

1 Who, when a heckler said that Mrs Thatcher 'had guts' replied: 'It's a pity that others had to leave theirs on the ground at Goose Green to prove it'?

2 The nursery rhyme 'Goosey Goosey Gander' refers to religious intolerance. In it, what becomes of the old man who would not say his prayers?

3 The goose step is commonly associated with Nazi Germany. But under which German leader was it first adopted?

4 Who first flew the Spruce Goose?

5 Legend has it that Rome was saved by geese in 390AD. Who alerted the Romans to attack by which invading force?

6 In North American sports argot, to what does a goose egg refer?

7 Who was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar this year for his role in Half Nelson

Eight maids a milking

1 'Milk and just as it comes dear?/I'm afraid the preserve's full of stones;/Beg pardon I'm soiling the doileys/With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.' Wrote who in what?

2 '"Mr Clare, you have ranged the cows!" she said, blushing; and in making the accusation, symptoms of a smile gently lifted her upper lip in spite of her, so as to show the tips of her teeth, the lower lip remaining severely still. "Well, it makes no difference," said he. "You will always be here to milk them." "Do you think so? I hope I shall! But I don't know."' Which Hardy heroine met her hero in the cowshed?

3 On which farm would you find the milk cows Aimless, Feckless, Graceless and Pointless?

4 Margaret Thatcher became known as 'the milk snatcher' when she stopped the provision of free milk for primary school children. In which year?

5 Complete the following: 'The Milky Bar kid is strong and tough...'

6 Which Shakespearean lady was the first to speak of the milk of human kindness?

7 Where are Mrs Probert, Myfanwy Price and Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard all neighbours?

8 Which breed of cow is the preferred choice for milking by the Archer family?

Nine ladies dancing

1 Dance to the Music of Time borrows its title from a painting by which artist?

2 Which lady was both a dancer with the Tiller Girls, and member of parliament for West Bromwich?

3 Who performed in an Eighties dance troupe - often supporting Adam and the Ants - and then became a lifestyle advisor - often supporting key members of the New Labour government?

4 Which of Jane Austen's heroes spoke thus on the subject of dancing: 'You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment for me to stand up with'?

5 Who partnered Kate Garraway in this year's Strictly Come Dancing

6 Darcey Bussell retired from dance last June. Which ballet did she chose for her final performance?

7 When Princess Diana danced with John Travolta at a state banquet at the White House, who was the host president?

8 In which French opera did the can-can first kick in?

9 Of which film are these the opening lines: 'That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the peace corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's'

Ten lords a leaping

1 Of which leaping Lord did John Aspinall say, 'His qualities were the old-fashioned ones of loyalty, honesty and reliability'?

2 Which hymn, much performed on Songs of Praise, was written by Sydney Carter in 1963?

3 Who said to whom in 1914: 'I don't mind you being killed, but I object to your being taken prisoner'?

4 Name the shop with branches on the King's Road and Carnaby Street, in swinging London, which sold military uniforms

5 At a dinner in the Reform Club in 1997, Lord Irvine made the mistake of comparing himself to which historical figure?

6 Name the prostitute who finished the careers of Lords Lambton and Jellicoe

7 Which Lord wrote the report on the invasion of the Falkland Islands, and which Lord reviewed the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq?

8 Who played Lord Brett Sinclair?

9 Which Lord was born in 1890, the second son of the 15th Duke of Denver, and educated at Eton and Balliol? After serving in the trenches, he was sent home with shell shock. He was fond of the piano works of Bach, good food and his Daimler. His talent for investigation emerged during the case of the Attenbury emeralds

10 Lordly nicknames: who were:

a Pam

b Porn

c Two dinners

Eleven pipers piping

1 Which case was deemed by Sherlock Holmes to be 'quite a three-pipe problem and I beg that you won't speak to me for 50 minutes'?

2 Pipe-smoking Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned from downing street in 1976. In which year did he resign as a member of Parliament?

3 Kenneth Branagh has directed a new film of The Magic Flute. Who has adapted the libretto and written the screenplay?

4 Who says: 'I am a flute player not a flautist. I don't have a flaut and I've never flauted'?

5 Which pipe-smoker's autobiography begins thus: 'Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind'?

6 Name Pink Floyd's 1967 debut album

7 Which pipe-smoking president was born Leslie Lynch King Jr in 1914?

8 Identify the following pipers: Born in Swindon, but later transported to a parallel universe through time and relative dimension in space

1 Which Conservative politician caused outrage in the Eighties by referring to the developing world as 'Bongo Bongo Land'?

2 Of which novel is this the first line: 'Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me'

3 Who wrote: 'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away'?

4 In 1922, which political leader described his position and ambition within his own party as 'nothing but a drummer and a rallier'?

5 Which white British journalist was, in 1951, the first editor of the influential black South African magazine Drum

6 Which famous female drummer was played by a Barbie doll in a 1987 film by Todd Haynes?

7 Which son of a famous drummer is the current drummer for the Who?

8 Name the drummer from Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

9 Who plays a cameo as a London policeman in the 1984 movie The Little Drummer Girl

10 In the Sixties, he was the drummer with Cream and then Blind Faith. What was the name of his own band formed in the early Seventies?